1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to means for controlling an image-processing device and computer implemented method for updating an item of configuration information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printer drivers are software for causing application software running on an operating system (OS) to instruct a printing device such as a printer to perform print processing. The printer drivers enable various print mode settings, for example, selection of a paper-feed cassette corresponding to a printing-device configuration, setting of a color processing method, and selection of a paper discharge method. The printer drivers have user interfaces (UI) for managing configurations of printing devices, and can set configurations corresponding to actual installation conditions and usage conditions. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-44344 discusses a technique for automatically acquiring configuration information of a printing device in response to a request from a printer driver.
As the methods for setting configuration information of printing devices, there are two methods. One method is to manually set configuration information using options provided on a printer driver UI. The other method is to acquire configuration information from a printing device and automatically reflect the information in a printer driver UI. The printer driver performs control so that only functions that can be realized according to the setting of the configuration information, can be selected. Therefore, the printing is performed as instructed by a user.
The manual setting is used in a case where a printing device and a printer driver cannot perform two-way communication with each other and configuration information cannot be acquired from the printing device, so that a user needs to manually set the configuration information. In addition, the manual setting is used for the following purposes.
For example, an environment for generating print data differs from an environment for executing printing, and in respective environments, configuration information of printing devices differ from each other. In the environment for generating the print data, it is enough if an inexpensive paper-discharge device that can perform test printing is provided. However, in the environment where the actual printing is performed, an expensive paper-discharge device that has a bookbinding function and the like is required. In such an environment for generating print data, printing is performed using the application software that generates the document, and the print data is generated as a file without sending the print data generated by a printer driver to the printing device. The generated file is moved to the environment for performing printing and the printing is executed.
In this case, the printing device in the environment for generating print data may not have the same paper-discharge device as the printing device used in the environment for performing printing. Accordingly, it is not possible to select on the printer driver the functions that can be performed only by the paper-discharge device. As a result, it is not possible to generate print data that specifies configuration including a paper discharge method. In order to solve the problem, it is necessary to manually set the configuration information that is different from the actual configuration.
Further, in a case where the paper-discharge device is mounted but the use of the device is not allowed in light of authority, or in a case where the paper-discharge device is broken and the use should be regulated, it is also necessary to manually set the configuration information that is different from the actual configuration.
In the above-described cases, a part of the configuration information is manually set. However, if a function for automatically notifying a printer driver of change in the configuration from the printing device and changing configuration information settings on a UI is mounted, even if the setting of configuration information different from the actual configuration information is manually performed, the setting is automatically changed. In order to solve the problem, it is possible to prevent the printing device from conducting update in a case where the manual setting is performed. However, in this case, all information including information to be automatically acquired from the printing device is stopped. Further, if manual setting/automatic setting is provided for each item, configuration of the printer driver UI becomes complicated.